I knew that the shells of cashews had toxins similiar to poison ivy. What
I didn't know was that cashews have to be blanched or roasted to keep the
nuts from also having those toxins and sometimes cashews aren't properly
blanched and so the toxins remain.

How do I know this?

My poor husband's body is about 80% covered and I mean COVERED by an itchy
red rash that's been driving him CRAZY (very little sleep and struggling
not to scratch, if you've ever had poison ivy then you know what I mean,
only imaging it EVERYWHERE on you, not just in the patches that got
exposed).

It started on Monday and we went to the doctor yesterday, who sent us to
the dermatologist, who figured out it was the spicy cajun cashews we bought
last friday at the food co-op that were the culprit.

So now he's on prednizone and has a cortizone ointment. What's ironic
about this is he doesn't really like cashews that much, he just thought
they were yummy with the spicy cajun stuff on it and got it for the spices.
I'm sure he'll never, ever eat cashews again.

--
Siobhan Perricone
Humans wrote the bible,
God wrote the rocks
-- Word of God by Kathy Mar